


Aftermath

by Fullmetalruby



Series: Behind [1]
Category: Lego Elves: Secrets of Elvendale (Cartoon)
Genre: Farran used to live with Quartzine don't question it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-11
Updated: 2017-09-11
Packaged: 2018-12-26 09:06:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12055743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fullmetalruby/pseuds/Fullmetalruby
Summary: After Quartzine dies, but before his fall from grace, Cronan Darkroot is a young boy who's just lost everything.





	Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> For reference, Sifa Watercross is the name I use for the Water sister and Phaedra Ashwinder is the name I use for the Fire sister.

Sifa likes to think herself a calm and collected person. She’s the eldest sister, the firstborn, the inheritress of all their father could offer. She has played mother to her sisters more times than she can count, knows when letting her heart show is appropriate. As the ambassador to the Fae, Sifa is expected to hold herself to Faen ideals within the court in order to keep herself and her people safe from the Queen’s hair-trigger temper. She has faced so many ordeals, political and personal alike, that she thinks nothing can faze her anymore. Even being held under pain of torture during the war hadn't made her flinch.

But when Farran Leafshade, all of eight, runs into Sifa’s chambers cradling her nephew’s limp body in shaking arms, Sifa has never been more terrified in her life.

She quickly takes Cronan from his best friend and lays him out on her own bed while the boy tells her everything he knows about how he got there. She runs every check she knows to figure out what happened, then upon realizing it she sinks to her knees and begins to pray to the Ancients, thanking them for her sense to not use any tests that used magic.

“Lady Sifa?” Rosalyn starts, creeping up next to her with the emergency kit in hand. “How can I help?”

The Keeper of the Water Amulet shakes her head at her apprentice. “There’s nothing we  _ can _ do, child. We must simply wait.”

Farran speaks up. “Milady, what’s wrong with him?” His voice is shaking, as are his knees. He trembles like a leaf in gale-force winds.

“If what you told me is true, then his mother’s amulet and responsibilities have passed to him. Not everyone is suited to the magic the amulets hold, Farran. All we can do is wait to see if his body can handle it.”

There is silence for a long moment while it sinks in. She hopes no-one will make her say what they all fear. “And what will happen if he can’t process the power?” Rosalyn breaks the silence and asks the hanging question.

Sifa tries her best to keep her voice flat ss she delivers her verdict. “His mana coils will overload and he’ll die. If I try to do anything, it could rupture every coil in his body and kill him on the spot.”

Farran trembled harder at the thought, legs giving way under him. He falls to his knees at Cronan's bedside and takes the younger boy’s hand. “Do you know how long we'll have to wait?”

“There's no telling. Quartzine was out for six hours, Skyra for twenty, Phaedra for forty-two, and I was unconscious for three days. It varies too much to get an accurate estimate.” Sifa turns away. “I will return shortly. Rosalyn, inform me of any changes in Cronan's condition.”

Sifa leaves the room, and makes two sheets of ice with which to contact her

sisters. As soon as they appear on the screen, she explains the situation in the barest terms she knows.

“What?” Phaedra explodes. The connection fizzles with the force of Phaedra’s emotions.

Skyra grimaces. “Clarify for me, Sifa. Quartzine is dead.”

With a heavy heart, Sifa nods. “And Cronan is in the process of inheriting her amulet. Quartzine’s ward hasn’t left Cronan’s side since they arrived.”

Sifa’s sisters--  _ remaining _ sisters, as now Emily is busy being human and a mother and whatnot and Quartzine is now dead by her own avarice-- aren't as careful with letting their feelings show as Sifa is.

She looks back to the sheet of ice that showed Phaedra, only to find the frame empty. Sifa sighs. She shatters the sheet with one hand and uses the other to open the flask at her hip for the water to return to.

“It seems that our dear sister is already making her way over here. Perhaps you would like to join too, Skyra?” Sifa is already halfway turned back towards her chambers and Cronan.

Skyra barely hesitates before she nods. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Skyra arrives before Phaedra, which is strange seeing as how the Lava Fields are closer than the Sky castle is to Sifa’s home on Enki Island, but when Phaedra arrives not long afterwards she explains frantically that her dragon wasn’t psyched at being woken in the middle of the night to fly over a wide body of water.

They all enter one of the unused guest rooms-- Rosalyn has taken the liberty of moving Cronan out of Sifa’s bedroom-- and find Farran still holding Cronan’s hand.

Sifa’s nephew has always been pale, and so they expected his mark to stand out against his cheek, but with this massive influx of mana into his system new and unexpected marks have appeared all over what’s visible of his body and just make him look sickly. His breathing is shallow and erratic.

Sifa lifts one of his eyelids. “He seems to be taking it well. His eyes are gold, at least. The only worry will be if it doesn't fade before he wakes.”

Phaedra and Skyra relax minutely. “That’s good. How long has he been out?” Phaedra asks, crossing her arms.

Sifa turns to Farran, who’s still on the floor next to Cronan. “Farran is the one who found him.”

“It was just after I had finished with my duties in the stable, so it must have been about nine in the morning when I saw the light from the courtyard. I didn’t make it here until about two hours after that--”

“It’s just after eight,” Rosalyn states, pulling her head back in the window. “Unless I’ve suddenly forgotten how to read the sky.”

“Eleven hours then.” Phaedra kneels next to Farran on the floor and speaks to her sisters and Rosalyn. “You three go get some rest, I’ll wake you if anything happens.”

It’s nearly four days later when, just as the shift is changing and Rosalyn is going to bed, when Cronan suddenly sits upright in bed with a strangled gasp. The extra marks on his skin haven’t faded away like his mother’s and his aunts’ did, and his eyes are still a haunting and pupilless gold.

Farran stands immediately. “Cronan?” He reaches and takes Cronan’s face between his hands. “Cronan, it’s me, it’s Farran. Are you okay?”

Cronan does the same, tracing the shape of Farran’s face with trembling fingers. “Farran!” he gasps, relieved to feel something familiar. He pulls the other child into a tight embrace. “Farran, I can’t see you,”

Rosalyn, immediately forgetting sleep, separates the boys and shines a faerie light in Cronan’s eyes. “Cronan, I’m shining a light in your eyes. Can you see it?”

He shakes his head. “I can’t see anything.” Cronan reaches out and takes Farran’s hand. “ _ I can’t see _ .”


End file.
